The site is an asparagus field between the Luynes Prison and the American Cemetery on the edge of the industrial estates of Milles, near Aix en Provence. We are in an area with protected status (Château de Lenfant XVIII s) subject to recommendations by the ABF (Architectes des Bâtiments de France) with mandatory conditions on alignment and size. The plot of land marks the urban boundary of the town.

To enter into the Z5 universe is to embrace a dream. It’s about rubbing shoulders with one’s idol. It is a symbolic project. It is about the unconscious, based on strong emotional values and expressions of identity. A showcase initiative with a collective sense and meaning. We are entering into iconology, into an emotional state. A metaphysical question. Is ZZ an architectural model?

The project carries a dual responsibility. That of rooting itself in the local area and an architectural style which embodies the aura of ZZ. You do not enter into the Z5 universe like you would that of Mickey Mouse. The project takes root following a very specific staging. Its approach, its discovery is an initiation exercise, a precondition to sharing emotions. Starkly blatant, this spatial process makes no concessions to aesthetics and from the axis of the access road, enables one to gradually discover the main building. In black concrete, it is the centre of gravity; it occupies the plot as a number 10 occupies the pitch. Each child who comes here must have eyes that light up and fall asleep at night with the feeling of having met his/her idol.